The Moment: The Pharcyde, As One

The Pharcyde at Tramps (music venue)

6th Ave & 20th street

New York, NY 1995

I first met The Pharcyde when they performed at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ in ‘93.  I walked up to them as they were hanging out, introduced myself to them, told them I worked with Thrasher Magazine and we hit it off because we were on the same vibe.

After their show we hung out for a while. One thing I’ll always remember is that when they would talk amongst themselves, they would speak only in Pig Latin. We just kicked it for a bit. 

From then on, whenever they were in the city, I would make it a point to go check them out.

In 1995, the night they performed at Tramps, a music venue in NYC. While the scenario of hanging out with them was no different, this time I wanted to photograph them when they weren't performing.

Having become somewhat customary for me, I arrived at the venue during sound check, found Swave, Pharcyde’s manager and exchanged greetings. He mentioned the guys were downstairs in the dressing room. I headed downstairs to the dressing room and the guys greeted me with a loud “YO!” 

We sat around for a few, then I announced I wanted to get some group shots. We went into the hallway outside the room.

Using the ambient light in the hallway I began shooting them from different angles. After the first 8 frames, the group relaxed and stopped doing the typical 'rap, yo!' poses, vibing with each other. Each of their actions was fluid, in sync with the movements of the others. If there was a low angle shift, someone else moved high; if someone gave a look, someone else would motion or adjust their look to stay complementary to the person adjacent.

Whether serious or silly, Pharcyde moved and acted as one.